Trump warns of 'death & destruction' if charged with a crime
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 [March 25, 2023]
By Gram Slattery and Nathan Layne
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump warned of
potential "death & destruction" if he faces criminal charges, hours
after New York prosecutors probing his hush-money payment to porn star
Stormy Daniels said they would not be intimidated.
The early Friday post on Trump's Truth Social media site was the latest
in a string of verbal attacks on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg
since last Saturday when Trump wrongly predicted he would be arrested
three days later.
Trump falsely claims his defeat in 2020 was the result of fraud - a
claim that inspired his followers to launch a deadly Jan. 6, 2021,
assault on the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to stop Congress from
certifying the election of Democratic President Joe Biden, who bested
the Republican Trump by more than 7 million votes.
"What kind of person can charge another person, in this case a former
President of the United States, who got more votes than any sitting
President in history, and leading candidate (by far!) for the Republican
Party nomination, with a Crime, when it is known by all that NO Crime
has been committed, & also known that potential death & destruction in
such a false charge could be catastrophic for our Country?" wrote Trump,
who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Bragg's office, in a letter to Republican committee chairmen in Congress
on Thursday, challenged their standing to investigate his office and
said Trump had "created a false expectation that he would be arrested"
in his Saturday post.
The letter called the chairmen's request for communications, documents
and testimony an "unlawful incursion into New York's sovereignty."
Stormy Daniels, an adult film actress and director whose real name is
Stephanie Clifford, has said she received the money in exchange for
keeping silent about a sexual encounter she had with Trump in 2006.
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A supporter of former U.S. President
Donald Trump attends a gathering outside his Mar-a-Lago resort after
he posted a message on his Truth Social account saying that he
expects to be arrested on Tuesday, and called on his supporters to
protest, in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., March 20, 2023.
REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
Trump has denied ever having an affair with Daniels, and has called
the payment a "simple private transaction." He has said he did not
commit a crime and has called the investigation politically
motivated.
The Manhattan grand jury probing Trump is not due to reconvene until
next week.
In other cases, Georgia prosecutors are looking into Trump's
attempts to overturn his election defeat there, and a federal
special counsel is investigating both his attempts to overturn his
loss and the removal of classified documents from the White House
after Trump left office.
On Saturday, Trump will hold a campaign rally in Waco, Texas, 30
years after a raid on the Branch Davidians religious sect there by
federal agents resulted in 86 deaths, including four law-enforcement
officers.
The event has become a symbol of government overreach for some and
is a seminal moment for some right-wing extremist groups.
In an e-mail, a Trump campaign spokesperson said Waco was chosen
because it is situated between several major population centers and
has the infrastructure needed to host a large event.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Nathan Layne; Editing by Scott
Malone and Howard Goller)
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